This invention relates to a new and distinct variety of lily classified botanically as a lilium hybrid and commercially as an upright Asiatic hybrid. I have selected the name "Cherished" as the varietal name for my plant.
My new variety of lily plant originated as a seedling selected from a group of seedlings at Julianadorp, The Netherlands. The seedlings were planted as a result of breeding efforts carried on by me since 1976. The breeding efforts had as their objective the production of upright Asiatic lilies in shades of pink and rose, well suited to forcing for cut-flower production out of season, heretofore unknown in the lily breeding art.
I achieved the desired objective by extensive interpollinations among many hybrid lily cultivars.
The flowers of my new lily are characterized by an upright orientation; by a dainty "ring" of spots, confined to the center of the flowers; and by their distinctive clear pink color shading into a cream "blush" above the nectaries, contrasting with their deeper pink tepal reverse, a color pattern unique in this type of lily. p In addition, my new lily plant possesses to a high degree desirable characteristics of hybrid vigor, great hardiness, and disease resistance, including a high tolerance of virus. It possesses all of the desired characteristics of excellence of form, color and habit. Its excellently formed flowers, of large size, are produced on a single stalk. The new lily plant is vigorous, a good grower, and a rapid propagator, as observed at Julianadorp, The Netherlands, and at Woodland, Wash.
Also, my new lily plant has versatility both as a garden plant and as a cut flower producer. It is well suited to forcing out of season when the bulbs are dug at the appropriate time and properly precooled October-dug bulbs, properly precooled and potted in January, will flower under glass in Western Oregon, with no supplementary lighting and at moderate greenhouse temperatures, in an average of seventy to eighty days.
My new variety of Asiatic hybrid lily most nearly resembles the lily "Corsica," which is the subject of U.S. Plant patent application, Ser. No. 902,461, filed Aug. 29, 1986, but it has a clear pink coloration suffusing gradually into a small "blush" of cream, rather than the sharply defined white/pink bicolored pattern of "Corsica." The cream "blush" of my new lily is initially a soft yellow-gold, in contrast with the white center of the "Corsica" lily. Also, the flowers of my new lily carry a distinctive 10-15 mm wide "ring" of small, deep-colored spots, in contrast with the less conspicuous spotting of the flowers of the "Corsica" lily. Also, my new lily has longer pedicels, a smaller stigma, and a somewhat deeper stem color than does the "Corsica" lily.
My new variety of lily plant has been asexually reproduced by me and under my direction at Julianadorp, The Netherlands and at Woodland, Wash. Successive generations produced by bulb scale propagation and by natural propagation from bulblets have demonstrated that the novel and distinctive characteristics of my new variety are fixed and hold true under asexual propagation from generation to generation.